


Five Times Keith Helped Other People (And One Time Someone Helps Him)

by ScripWriter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Leader Keith, Hurt/Comfort, Kuron is Shiro's clone, Lance's suspicious phone excuses, Multi, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Team Bonding, Theoretically takes place in season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 01:50:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11727003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScripWriter/pseuds/ScripWriter
Summary: “-And so everyone’s closed off, we can hardly link to form Voltron, and it’s supposed to be my job to figure out all of their problems, but I don’t even know where to start!” Keith finished, face set in a scowl. He stopped pacing around Shiro’s room, looking to the older man for help. “And that’s why I came to you. You’re so good at this leader stuff! I don’t have a single clue how to help them!”“You just need a bit more practice,” Shiro assured him, from his position sitting on the edge of the bed. “Here, why don’t we try working through this, first? Let’s go person by person, and figure out what’s bothering them. The root of their issues."Keith tries out 'helping his teammates by letting them vent/talk/whatever,' Lance loses his phone on multiple occasions, and Shiro is relieved to not be in charge anymore.





	Five Times Keith Helped Other People (And One Time Someone Helps Him)

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is set in a theoretical season 4, in which the Shiro they currently have is revealed to be a clone(Kuron), Matt Holt is a rebellion leader, and they found Shiro, but he still wants Keith to lead.
> 
> This season made me ship Klance so there's kinda some hintings at the beginnings of Klance in this, but I didn't really go all out it's still mostly just friends supporting each other.

“-And so everyone’s closed off, we can hardly link to form Voltron, and it’s supposed to be my job to figure out all of their problems, but I don’t even know where to start!” Keith finished, face set in a scowl. He stopped pacing around Shiro’s room, looking to the older man for help. “And that’s why I came to you. You’re so good at this leader stuff! I don’t have a single clue how to help them!”

“You just need a bit more practice,” Shiro assured him, from his position sitting on the edge of the bed. “Here, why don’t we try working through this, first? Let’s go person by person, and figure out what’s bothering them. The root of their issues. You said Pidge has been moping, and snapping at people. Why?”

Keith blinked at him, then let out a long sigh. “I don’t know,” he groaned.

“Just think for a bit. Put yourself in her shoes, and try and think about how you’d be feeling.”

Keith stared at Shiro for a long moment, then leaned back against the wall, trying to imagine he was Pidge. Nerdy, likes computers and programming, short, and hero worships her brother. Spending all her free time looking for Matt, who they had found.

But, he realized, she had been expecting to _save_ Matt. She’d been expecting she’d have to help him, and, once they’d worked through things, she would have her goofy older brother back. Instead of that, however, she’d gotten an older brother who was leading a rebellion, and had settled into space even quicker than she had. And, probably the worst of all, _Matt_ was trying to protect _Pidge_ . He had outstripped her in intellect and maturity, and, while before there would’ve been some difference due to their age gap, now there was a chasm between them. Pidge probably felt useless when she saw how in control her older brother was, when she’d spent this whole time almost _desperately_ trying to track him down.

“Pidge is… upset, because Matt isn’t what she expected. She wanted her older brother back,” he said, looking back at Shiro, who nodded encouragingly at him, “But now that she has him, she doesn’t know what to do. He’s not the same person that she remembers, and he’s advanced to a point where she doesn't think she can help him, and he won’t let her. She doesn’t feel like there’s any point to her being here.”

“Good,” Shiro nodded. “How can you help her?”

Keith thought for a moment. “Make her feel useful? Make sure I ask her about things I don’t understand, so she can explain them, and ask her about help figuring out the enemies tech? And,” he gave a bit of a grimace, “I should probably suggest she talk to Matt about it.”

Shiro gave him a wry smile. “That’s about as good a solution to that as you can give her,” he agreed. “You can’t force their relationship to work itself out, and you can’t force her to feel better, but you can try and nudge them in the right direction. Maybe try talking to Matt a bit, too.” He leaned forwards and rested his arms on his knees. “So what’s bothering Hunk?”

Keith chewed on his bottom lip, and thought about how tired and slow the yellow paladin had become. And how worried, he realized suddenly, thinking back to how Hunk reacted every time they heard of another world being retaken by the Galra. “Is he worried about Shay, and the Balmera?” he asked. “He probably misses her a lot, right?” he added slowly.

“That’s right,” Shiro agreed.

“We need to check in on the worlds we saved soon anyways,” Keith said, warming up to this a bit, “So I can send him to that quadrant. He can go talk to her, and make sure everything’s alright. Then he should be happy again for a while, at least.”

Shiro grinned. “Allura?” he asked, gesturing for Keith to continue.

“She’s still worried about the way the alternate version of her acted, in the other universe. She’s still trying to get used to the blue lion, and is worried she’s not keeping up, even though she’s been doing really well. And she feels bad about not realizing that Kuron wasn’t actually you, even though everyone else was fooled too, even him.” Keith paused. “So, I should probably let her know that we all were wrong, not just her, and that everyone knows that she’s a better person than Empress Allura from Sven’s universe. And that, obviously, people can differ a lot between universes, given the difference between the two Slavs and between you and Sven. And remind her that she’s more than just Allura, the blue paladin, but also Princess Allura, the person that knows more about this world than any of us, even Coran.”

“And, since you mentioned Kuron, why’s he upset?” Shiro added. “He may not be a paladin, but he’s part of the team too.”

“He’s having an existential crisis,” Keith said easily. “He thought he was you, but he isn’t, and now he’s sure he’s some sort of weapon the Galra made, which is probably true. He’s been trying to figure out where he can get those clamps that will keep his arm from powering up, but since he hasn’t found any, he’s getting more and more desperate.” He thought for a second on that. “I could ask Pidge and Hunk to try to make him a new arm, or at least a band that will do what he’s looking for. Between the two of them, they could probably do it, though I doubt it’ll be as high tech as what the Galra made.”

“And that could also help Pidge,” Shiro added, grin widening. “If she makes something useful for the team, she’ll feel better about being here. And so what’s up with Lance?”

Keith immediately let out a frustrated groan. “Lance is being a complete _idiot_ ,” he moaned, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shiro raise his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden outburst. “He thinks we don’t need him as a paladin, and that soon he’s just gonna be sitting around the castle doing nothing. He’s lonely, and homesick, and stressed, and he tries to ignore that by trying to focus on everyone else’s problems! And that just makes him _more_ stressed, which makes him feel _more_ lonely, and makes him even _more_ homesick! And then he does it all over again! It’s a miracle he hasn’t collapsed yet!” Keith snapped, finally looking Shiro in the eyes. “What am I supposed to do about that? We can’t go back to Earth and visit his family, because that would cause all _sorts_ of trouble!”

“Alright, so take a deep breath and think about what we _can_ do,” Shiro said soothingly, make a motion that Keith took to mean ‘calm down.’ “You figured out how to help the others. I know you can figure out how to help Lance.”

Keith sighed and walked over to flop down on the bed beside Shiro. The man let out a surprised chuckle. “It’s not that hard, I promise,” Shiro laughed out. “You’ve actually done it for him before.”

“What?” asked Keith, frustrated. “Whenever I try to help him, he starts talking, then just cuts himself off and leaves! I don’t even have anything to work with! The only times I think I’ve actually helped at all were when he came and talked to me about potentially stepping down, and when he talked to me about not trusting Kuron!”

“And you listened to him,” Shiro pointed out. Keith turned his head and blinked at him, a bit confused. “He talked, and you listened. You took into account what he had to say, and told him that things were going to work out, and that you’d keep an eye on Kuron. And you did. Lance needs to talk to someone, and feel like they’re going to listen.” Shiro gave Keith a patient smile. “Next time he starts to clam up, tell him you’re willing to listen to what he has to say. Let him know you’re here for him, if he needs it.”

“I thought he _knew_ that!” Keith huffed out, glaring up at the ceiling now.

“Maybe he does,” Shiro said, “And maybe he feels isolated anyways. You guys do pick on him a lot,” he added reproachfully.

Keith shut up at that. There was a beat of silence. “We don’t mean it, not _really_ ,” he mumbled, looking away. “He picks on himself too sometimes. It’s just a joke.”

“That doesn’t mean he actually finds it funny,” Shiro pointed out. “And Lance, despite how he tries to carry himself, doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of self-esteem. So talk to him, let him talk to you, and _if_ you pick on him, make sure he knows you don’t really mean it.”

Keith nodded, throat constricting a bit. “Alright,” he managed to get out. “I’ll try and do that.” He sighed, and sat up. “I guess now that I know _what_ to do, I should probably go do all that.” He moved to go towards the door. “This is gonna take a while. How are you supposed to fit all this supportive stuff in around all the battles?”

“Sometimes we go a week without fighting anyone,” Shiro pointed out. “I think you’ll manage.”

 

* * *

 

Keith decided that, since Hunk’s problem was probably the easiest to solve, he’d settle that one first. “What with Lotor going around and reconquering worlds, we should go around and check on the ones we’ve freed in the past,” Keith said, leaning against the edge of a desk on the bridge. “Send a lion or two to each quadrant and make sure everything’s alright. And if they aren’t, we can regroup and come in with Voltron.”

“That’s a good idea, Keith!” Hunk agreed, perking up instantly. “We haven’t seen some of those guys for months! Who knows what could’ve happened!”

“You just want to go on a date with Shay,” Pidge snorted from her own desk.

“We should be keeping an eye on things, though,” Allura said. “It is a good idea.”

“We should be freeing more worlds,” Matt said quietly, staring at the map in front of him. “We need to move quickly, or we won’t have time to save everybody.”

“There’s no point in saving people if we don’t keep them safe,” Lance shot back, moving to stand by Keith’s shoulder. A rush of gratitude welled up in the black paladin, but he shoved it down, just acknowledging Lance’s words with a nod. “We’re losing planets almost as fast as we gain them. So we need to protect what we have already. _And_ Hunk should get a chance to see his girlfriend again,” he added, shooting his friend a wink and a sly grin.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Hunk said, face red, as he ducked his head. “I just- Look, I’ve met her _twice_ , that doesn’t exactly work out,” he pointed out, still flushed.

“Alright, big guy, whatever you say,” Lance turned off his megawatt grin, and turned to face Matt again. “Besides, I think Keith and Allura kinda have you outranked.” Matt pursed his lips, but didn’t argue. “So, who’s checking on what?” Lance added, turning to Keith.

A few minutes later, after Keith had given out the orders(Hunk was going to be in the Balmera’s area, obviously), he caught Lance staring at him with a small smile on his face. “What?” Keith asked, furrowing his brow.

“Nothing important,” Lance said, with a shrug. But the smile didn’t leave, so Keith had to just hunch his shoulders and get on with his work, feeling a bit self conscious.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Pidge, do you know what this is?” Keith asked, holding up one of the various strange gadgets around the kitchen.

“It’s like a toaster, but for blugher fruit and gobdal skins instead of bread,” Pidge said instantly, without looking up.

_That was too easy, then,_ Keith thought, giving her a nod. What he said was, “Oh, alright, not something I’d be using, then.”

“Nope,” Pidge agreed, scrolling further down the screen.

Once he left the room, Keith sighed, and tried to think of a problem he could ask Pidge to fix. He drew a blank. Finally, accepting defeat, he decided to track down Matt.

“Matt, can I talk to you?” he asked, as he entered the room. Lance and Hunk, who had also been there, took one look at Keith’s face and seemed to decide they wanted to be elsewhere. He tried to school his features into a more neutral expression while they left.

“What’s up?” Matt asked cautiously. Keith had a feeling he was still scowling.

He decided to just cut right to the chase. “Why are you avoiding Pidge?”

Matt’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not avoiding her,” he said stiffly.

“Whenever you talk to her, you treat her like a child,” Keith pointed out, crossing his arms. “And you won’t bring up anything serious about the mission around her.”

“You may not have noticed this,” Matt said, voice cold, “But she’s just a kid. She shouldn’t be involved in any of this.”

“We’re all kids!” Keith snapped back. “She’s only younger than Lance, Hunk, and I by three years, and it doesn’t change anything! She’s a paladin, and she’s done just as much to save the universe as you have, if not _more_ . The only thing trying to protect her does is make her think you hate her and don’t trust her!” Matt looked like he’d been slapped. “If you wanted to protect her, you’d have to turn back time and never have gone to Kerberos, because after that, she was already involved in too much of this shit to turn back.” Keith let out a frustrated sigh. “If you’re worried about her, then _talk_ to her. Don’t lock her out. She takes it out on the rest of us, you know,” he added, trying to lighten up the conversation.

Matt scoffed, but didn’t argue. He was looking at his hands. “Fine. I’ll talk to her,” he said quietly. “I’ll talk to her,” he repeated, his shoulders sinking.

Keith gave a nod and exited the room. He nearly walked right into Lance, who was loitering in the hallway. “Sorry,” Lance said quickly, stepping out of his way. “I left my phone in there.” And then he swept past Keith, flashing a smile at him as he did so.

_Obviously an excuse_ , thought Keith, _since the closest things to phones any of us have anymore are those weird orange screens that only Lance, Hunk, and Pidge managed to figure out._ But he just shrugged, and moved on down the hallway. As long as Lance didn't mess up any of the paladins’ problems, Keith wasn't gonna tell him off.

He tried to put aside the memory of the grin, just one of many that Lance had started giving him since Shiro had gone missing. It was an odd change. But a good one, he decided, his own mouth twitching into an answering smile even when Lance wasn’t there to see it.

 

* * *

 

Keith decided to take a more direct approach with the next person, figuring that it wouldn’t work if he tried to hint at a solution or talk to someone else about it first. “Hey, Kuron,” he said, as he knocked on the door to the clone’s room, “There’s something I wanna ask you.”

The door opened a moment later, Kuron giving him a worried look. Entering, Keith realized the room was a mess, with the bed haphazardly thrown together, and the few possessions that he owned having been spilled across the floor. Which, given who he was talking to, was a bad sign.

Kuron was watching him, waiting for him to speak, so Keith just let out a sigh and went right for the root of the issue. “You don’t trust your arm, right?”

Kuron took a step back, and his flesh hand reached up to clutch the metal attached to his shoulder. “No,” he agreed, nervous.

“Look, I can’t _promise_ anything,” Keith said, straight to the point, “But if you want, I can ask Pidge and Hunk to either make you a new arm, or make something that can turn that one off. I think a new arm would be better in the long run, but that would probably take longer for them to make, assuming they say yes,” he added.

Kuron gaped. “You’d- You’d do that for me?”

“You're part of this team too,” Keith said seriously, “And, I’ll be honest, I’d feel better if we found a solution to this problem too. Better safe than sorry.”

Kuron nodded, looking hopeful possibly for the first time since they found Shiro. “Thank you.”

Keith shrugged. “I still have to ask Hunk and Pidge. Don’t thank me yet.”

He led Kuron down the halls until they found a the rest of the paladins in the training room, running through a simulation. They waited for them to finish, Keith tapping his foot impatiently. Once it was done, Keith stopped them from starting another. “Hey, Hunk, Pidge,” he said, waving them over, “Can I ask you guys something?”

Pidge and Hunk both seemed to be in great moods, thankfully. It was also a good sign, since it meant that Keith had actually managed to help them. Pidge adjusted her glasses and stared up at the pair. “What’s up?” she asked, putting away her bayard.

“Do you think the two of you would be able to either make Kuron a new arm, or at least a band that can keep it from activating? He’s worried the Galra will be able to control him through this one,” Keith said bluntly.

Hunk’s eyes widened, and he nodded seriously. “Dude, I’ve been wondering that same thing. Not just about your arm, either,” he added to Kuron, who was now grimacing, “I used to worry that about Shiro’s, too.”

“It’d be stupid to make a band,” Pidge said, frowning. “Then he’d have this useless hunk of metal on his shoulder, weighing him down. But we could definitely make a new arm,” she agreed, looking to Hunk for confirmation. “We’ll need an exact map of his nervous system first.”

“But that should be easy, we can use the pods, they can do that,” Hunk added, nodding along. “Oh, we should give it weapons! Since he’ll be losing the weaponized arm, we should give him a cooler weaponized arm!”

“What do you think of ninja stars?” Pidge added hopefully to Kuron, who looked a bit lost. “A blaster for a hand, maybe?”

Keith let the pair pull the clone along out of the training room, to wherever it was they worked their magic, and stepped into the training room, hoping that Allura, Lance, and Shiro, the other inhabitants of it at the moment, wouldn’t mind his joining.

 

* * *

 

Allura, Keith decided, would be the trickiest person so far to talk to, because she abhorred sympathy, and the memory of her distrust when they found out he was part Galra still rubbed him the wrong way when he thought of it. But he swallowed his doubts and sought her out, catching her on her own in the control room.

When she noticed him watching her, she pursed her lips and straightened up. “Can I help you, Keith?” she asked primly.

He hesitated, then shrugged. “Actually,” he said, the words feeling heavy on his tongue, “I was wondering how you’ve been holding up. A lot of stuff’s happened in the past month, and you’ve been handling it really well, but I just wanted to remind you that you don’t have to handle everything alone. You can talk to us.”

She eyed him for a moment. “I'm perfectly fine,” she said, as her gaze dropped back down to the console. “If you think I'm any less capable than the others, just because I'm a princess, then you're sorely mistaken,” she added a bit angrily.

“That's not what I meant,” Keith shook his head. “Look, it's not easy, being in the thick of battle. And sometimes we run into unpleasant things. Everyone needs to be able to talk to _someone_. When I get overwhelmed, I talk to Shiro. But I figured I'd let you know that, if you do need to talk, I'll listen.” He stared at her with a clenched jaw, hoping she realized that he genuinely meant this, even if they had their disagreements. “Maybe I'm not the person you'd like to talk to,” he added. “But you should talk to someone. None of the other paladins would turn you away, I know that much. Just don't try to- to be a loner,” he added bitterly. “It doesn't tend to work out.”

Allies raised an eyebrow. “I thought _you_ were the loner?” she asked lightly, though at least she had stopped half-paying attention to the screen, and was now completely engaged in the conversation.

“Yeah, so I should be the first to warn you that it _sucks_ ,” he snapped back, then took a deep breath. “Sorry,” he got out. “Look, I just- I don't want anyone on the team to feel isolated, alright? We need to work together, we need to trust each other, and we need to be there for each other. So, if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm ready to listen,” he finished.

She was silent for a moment, then gave him a nod. “I'll keep it in mind,” she said, not agreeing, but not dismissing him, either.

Keith decided to take that as a partial win, and left her to what she was doing. He expected that to be it, not actually thinking she'd choose to come to _him_ , of all people, but, then, after a particularly exhausting fight, he found her drawing him aside.

“Keith, can I talk to you?” she asked, her eyes pained.

He blinked, but nodded. “Sure. What's wrong?”

“I think Lotor is half Altean,” Allura said, fists clenching by her sides. “I mean, now that we’ve actually _seen_ him, he _can't_ be just _Galra_ . And Zarkon had an Altean wife! So if he’s Haggar and Zarkon’s son, he’d be half Altean, and that means that of the people out there with Altean blood in them, _half_ of them are _evil_ ! And that's just in _our_ universe! In another one, _I-_ ” Her words cut off in a harsh sob.

Keith took a deep breath, and hoped he wasn't about to mess everything up. “Empress Allura was _not_ you,” he said firmly. “If Sven wasn't Shiro, and the Slav in that reality wasn't anything like the Slav in our reality, then Empress Allura also wasn't anything like you. You're compassionate and kind, and even though you might be quick-tempered at times, you always listen to reason in the end.” He put a hand on her shoulder, and met her teary eyes with a serious stare. “You're better than her, and you're better than Haggar and Lotor, too, by a million times. Don't sell yourself, or your people, short.”

She blinked a few times, a couple more tears trickling down her cheeks, but gave a nod. Then she took a moment to even put her breathing, and wipe away all the signs of tears. “Thanks,” she said quietly. “I- I think I needed to hear that. I don't know why I reacted this way, I'm normally not one for hysterics,” she said rubbing at her face.

“You're probably tired, and hungry,” Keith suggested. “And it's not an easy thing to deal with on your own,” he added. “Go eat and rest, and if you don't feel better then, we can talk some more, if you want.”

She offered him a weak smile and a slight nod, and moved away. “Thank you, Keith,” she said quietly. “You're a good leader, you know that?”

He blinked at the unexpected compliment, and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Oh, um, thanks,” he managed to get out, and then he was gone.

There was a exhale of breath behind him, and he turned, hand going to his bayard, only to see Lance, who looked a mixed of scared and relieved. “Hey!” he yelped, shrinking back, “Watch where you're waving that thing!”

“Lance?” Keith paused, then let out a sigh and tucked away his weapon. “What are you doing?”

“I was checking on Blue,” Lance explained, blushing, “And when I came out I saw you and Allura, and, I mean, I didn't want to interrupt. So I kinda just froze and hoped neither of you noticed me.” He shuffled his feet, glancing at the ground. “You handled that really well, by the way,” he added, as he started to walk towards the door. “She's right, you are a good leader.”

For some reason, the comment made him even more embarrassed than when he'd gotten it from Allura. Possibly because he'd just helped her, but Lance had just been listening in. He could feel his face heat up. By the time he opened his mouth to reply, Lance had already left.

He let out a long sigh, and he couldn't tell if it was relief or disappointment. 

 

* * *

 

“Keith,” Lance whispered, sounding nigh on the verge of panic, “I dropped my phone sometime while we were talking to the queen. I need to get it back!”

Keith, who had been testing the strength of the prison force field, turned to give him an odd look. “You mean your little orange holoscreen?” he asked. “I know you figured out how to take pictures on there, but I doubt they're irreplaceable,” he added, turning back to the wall of energy.

“No, not-” Lance seemed genuinely panicked, now. “My _earth_ phone! I dropped it! I _need_ it!”

This time, when Keith turned, he took how rushed and uneven Lance’s breathing was, how his eyes were screwed shut and his knuckle was in between his teeth. “Okay,” Keith said slowly, trying to think of all the things he'd ever read on what to do when someone's having a panic attack, “Then once we get out of here, we can look for it. Until then, just try to take deep breaths, alright?” he said, trying to keep his tone level. He stepped over and put a hand on Lance’s shoulder as the other boy started to try to gulp down air. “ _Slow_ deep breaths,” Keith amended. “Seven seconds in, hold for five seconds, and eight seconds out. Like this,” he added, breathing that way as an example.

Lance nodded shakily, and started to try and match him. After a few minutes of this, he seemed to be more in control. “Th- thanks, Keith,” he whispered, not meeting the other paladin’s eyes.

“Let's get out of this cell, and then make sure that the others get out of their cells, then we can look for it,” Keith promised. He turned to look at the wall again.

Everything flickered for a second, and then the force field shut off. Unsure what was going on, but not about to pass on an opportunity handed to him on a silver platter, he grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him into the hall.

From the end of the hall, he heard someone give a whoop of joy. “Katie, you _genius!_ ” Closer, Keith saw the majority of the other paladins and their ragtag group emerging from the cells, with the exception of two.

Matt and Pidge ran out from what Keith assumed was some kind of control room, both grinning like lunatics. “Guys, we’re all clear; I shut off the guard robots in this section, _and_ unlocked all the doors,” Pidge said smugly. Matt’s proud smile was so big Keith thought it might split his face if it got any wider.

“Good work,” Keith nodded at them. “But we need our weapons, with or without the guards. Someone's bound to notice that we escaped,” he added.

“Kuron’s arm has a laser gun in it,” Hunk said helpfully.

“Alright, that’s one of us armed,” Keith said. Lance gave a half-hearted laugh, and Hunk, Pidge, and Matt groaned. Allura, Kuran, and Shiro all just shook their heads. “But we still need our bayards back.”

“The layout of this prison is very similar to that of the Hojkadls’,” Allura said slowly. “It might be a bit of a stretch, but perhaps they'd keep confiscated weapons in the same area as they would on that world?”

“Anybody got anything more concrete to go on?” Keith asked. No one did. “Alright, let's look there, then. Allura, lead the way,” he added, gesturing for her to go in front of him.

It took them a few tries into a few empty rooms, but it appeared that, for the most part, Allura’s suspicion had paid off. They found their bayards almost exactly where she’d said they would, in a crate that seemed to be marked, “Unidentified,” if Hunk’s shaky knowledge of the language was correct.

Keith grabbed the black bayard, and was gratified when it immediately formed a sword. Once everyone had their weapons, he realized with a start that towards the bottom of the crate, there was a small mobile phone. He grabbed it. “I think these guys thought this was a bomb or something,” he said, catching everyone’s attention.

Lance’s eyes widened, and he gave a sigh of relief. “That's mine!”

Keith nearly tossed it to him, but thought better of it, not wanting to imagine what Lance’s reaction would be if it dropped and broke. He handed it over carefully, instead.

“Actually, phone bombs is a pretty good idea,” Matt said thoughtfully. “We could make a bunch of holoscreens that explode at certain times, and leave them in control rooms. People won't think to be suspicious of them.”

“Phone bombs aside, we should get out of here,” Shiro said, at nearly the same time that Keith said, “Not now, Matt.” The pair glanced at each other, Keith with a nod, and Shiro with a wry smile. He motioned for Keith to take the lead.

“Alright, team,” Keith said, raising his bayard, “Let's move out.”

Later, after they had escaped from the base in a whirlwind of lasers and blades and blood, and they had returned to Coran and the castle in mostly one piece, Keith tracked Lance down. He was sitting in the observatory, phone in hand, flicking through the contents with a growing look of relief,

“What's on that, anyways?” Keith asked quietly. Lance startled, and looked at him like a kid who'd been caught stealing cookies.

“It's nothing,” Lance said hurriedly, nearly dropping the phone in his rush to put it away, “Seriously.”

“Didn't seem like nothing earlier,” Keith pointed out, going to sit down by Lance.

Lance eyed him nervously for a moment, then sighed. “Seriously, it doesn't have to do with Voltron or the Galra or anything. Just stupid Earth stuff. You don't have to worry.”

Keith blinked, then shook his head, and said, “I mean, if it's important to you, I'm here to listen. You're my…friend,” he added, aware that he probably sounded hopeful instead of cool and aloof like he normally would, and he felt his face flushing up.

But he felt a bit less embarrassed by it when Lance’s face flushed up too, and he offered a quick smile. “Yeah, man, we’re friends,” he agreed softly. “But you don't have to worry about this stuff. It's not your problem.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “I want to help,” he said. “If all I can do to help is listen to you talk about what's bothering you, then fine. I'll do that. But if there's anything else I can do, I'm gonna do it. So what's bothering you?”

Lance let out a small huff of a laugh, and glanced away. “It's dumb,” he said, though his voice was shaking, now. “I just- I'm just a bit homesick, that's all. And my phone has- it has pictures of my family. It's not like I _need_ it,” he added, scoffing at himself. But Keith noticed how his shoulders had pulled in close, and the tremble of his bottom lip.

“Sounds important to me,” Keith said quietly.

Lance’s gaze shot towards him. “You're _never_ homesick,” he said almost accusingly. “Why would you think it's important?” His words seemed less an attack, and more a diversion, so Keith didn't let them stick.

“Well, I never really had a home, for one,” Keith said, matter-of-fact. “And just because I don't experience something doesn't mean it's any less painful for those who do. If anything, it means I'm _less_ qualified to judge others for it.”

Lance stared for a second, mouth slightly open, like he was thinking of saying something but the words had gotten stuck partway through, then finally looked down at the phone in his hands. “I'm starting to forget a lot of their voices,” he admitted, in a horrified whisper. “I have a few videos on here, but those are mostly of the kids. I'm having trouble remembering what Abuela sounded like, even what mama sounded like,” he said, blinking hard and fast.

Keith reached out and put a hand on Lance’s shoulder. His friend leaned into the touch. “Tell me about them,” he said quietly.

Lance nodded, and scrubbed at his eyes, which were glistening. He started to talk, in a quiet, choked voice, about his numerous relatives, showing pictures of some of them. At some point, he moved closer to Keith’s side, and the black paladin’s arm ended up fully wrapped around his shoulders, but neither of them fully noticed. They stayed here for over an hour, as Lance told the stories behind all of his photos.

 

* * *

 

“So, how’s being a leader going?” Shiro asked casually. It was the middle of the night; or at least, the middle of the night cycle on the ship. They had both ended up in the kitchen, due to insomnia and midnight hunger pangs.

“Uh, okay, I guess,” Keith shrugged, pulling the spoon out of his mouth. “Talking to people actually, like, works? So you were right about that,” he added.

“Oh yeah,” Lance interrupted their conversation, appearing in the doorway. Keith and Shiro both instinctively reached for weapons, then sighed when they saw who it was. “He's been doing great,” Lance added, going over to the fridge. “Taking and listening and everything.”

Keith sighed and shook his head, amused, and said, “Have you listened in on _all_ of my bonding moments with the team?”

“Hey, I'm your right hand man, temember?” Lance said, pulling out a carton of some green liquid. “Gotta make sure people are listening to you, and all that.”

Keith huffed out a laugh and looked away. “Don't drink straight out of the carton, Lance,” he said fondly. “It's gross.”

“No one else drinks this stuff,” Lance argued, putting down the carton and swiping at his mouth.

“Coran does,” Shiro pointed out. “Shouldn't you be asleep?”

“Just following my leaders’ examples,” he said with a cheeky grin, gesturing to the two of them. “What are you guys doing up? Other than talking about and feelings and all that stuff?”

“I missed dinner, and didn’t realize how late it was getting while I trained,” Shiro explained, taking a bite of the alien fruit he was holding. “Figured I’d grab something before heading to bed.” He glanced at the clock, and stretched, adding, “Which I should probably do now. Night, boys. Don’t stay up too late.” And then he threw out the core of his fruit, and left with a small wave.

Lance waved back, then turned to Keith. “What about you? Everything okay?”

“Can’t sleep,” Keith shrugged, looking away. “It happens.” _Everyone has nightmares_ , he told himself, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. _You’re not weak for having them too._

Lance nodded, and took another swig of the green drink. “You wanna talk about it?” he asked, eyes soft.

Keith scowled at the wall. “Nothing to talk about,” he said stiffly.

“Never know until you try,” Lance said, and sat down at the table next to him. “Hey, we’re friends.” He offered Keith a sincere smile. “Friends listen to each other’s problems, big or small.”

Keith blinked, then let out a huff of breath. “It’s really stupid,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “It’s just a few bad dreams. Nothing I can’t handle.”

“What happens in them?” Lance asked cautiously, leaning in a bit closer, brows furrowed.

Keith had trouble meeting the other paladin’s eyes. “Just, you know, bad stuff,” he said bitterly. “People dying. The team dying. Shiro, Allura, _you_ ,” he sighed, “Everyone.”

Lance gave a small, understanding nod. “It’s not gonna happen,” he said, “I promise.”

“That’s not something _any_ of us can promise,” Keith argued, pursing his lips. “And now it’s on me. I haven’t- Lance, this is gonna sound selfish, but-” he bit down on his lip, hard, screwing his eyes shut, “But I’ve never really _had_ friends before. I don’t want to lose you guys _now_ . Not if I can help it. We’ve already almost lost Shiro, and everyone’s nearly died at _least_ once, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep everyone safe!” he finished, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t even know what I’m _doing_ half the time!”

“That’s okay,” Lance said softly, “Because everyone’s gonna be fine. We’re all gonna make it home at the end of this. Because you’re the best leader we could’ve hoped for. And yes,” he added quickly, when Keith opened his mouth to interrupt, “I did include Shiro in the group of people who I _don’t_ think are the best. Even _he_ thinks you’re better than him, which means you probably are.”

“Shiro has low self-esteem,” Keith said, though he could feel the beginning of a smile tug at his lips, “So I don’t think he’s a good judge.”

“Well, I’m unbiased,” Lance said with a grin, clapping Keith on the shoulder, “So take my word for it.” Then he sobered, glancing down at the table. “But, if you keep getting nightmares,” he added, voice a bit quieter, “You can come talk to me. This whole listening thing goes both ways, you know.”

Keith let himself smile fully at that. “Yeah,” he said, and for the first time he actually believed it. “Yeah, I know.”


End file.
